Western Australia’s iconic black cockatoos are in crisis. Their numbers have fallen dramatically over the past few decades and all three species in the south-west of WA could become extinct in just 20 years unless something is done to protect their habitats. With the loss of the banksia woodlands on the Swan Coastal Plain to housing, Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos have come to depend on the once vast exotic pine plantations on Perth’s northern fringe. These pine plantations supply up to half of all the food needed to keep the population of Carnaby’s alive but these too are disappearing. Within the next two years the remaining 4000ha of pines are slated for clearing leaving the cockatoos facing possible starvation. Meanwhile the Baudin’s Black Cockatoos are literally being shot out of the sky in an unequal battle for food with apple and pear growers in Perth’s hills. And the Forest Red-Tailed Black Cockatoos are under threat from the loss of nesting hollows and declining habitat.

Black Cockatoo Crisis looks at the plight of our special cockatoos and what we can do to stop these threatened species disappearing for ever.

This is a story with a Western Australian focus but a universal theme. The world’s biodiversity stands at a crossroads with more than 1 million species currently facing extinction. Will we act in time to save them?